Panasonic has a long history of making lovely CCTV cameras and pulling the WV-S2550L 5MP Dome out of its box the first thing that hits me is the build quality and the way everything fits together. This is a rugged dome with a high specification that’s designed for challenging environments. I have no problem putting the camera together after adding the attachment plate and base bracket, and it powers up and I’m able to access it via Panasonic’s EasyIP browser with no problems.

The WV-S2550L is built around a 1/2.8 MOS sensor with a maximum resolution of 5MP at 30ips and offers H.265, H.264 and JPEG compression options – I stick with native H.265. Resolution settings at the upper end include 3072 x 1728 pixels, 2560 x 1440 pixels and 1920 x 1080 pixels. This camera can handle a minimum scene illumination of 0.07 lux in colour or 0.04 in black and white. The angle of view from the 2.9-9.9mm lens (3.3x optical) with its magnesium fluoride coating is a little narrower than I’m used to – it gives 103-33 degrees. For my busy street scene, this turns out to be a good range.

Taken as a whole, camera performance is strong. Resolution is high, bitrate is often surprisingly low, WDR performance is excellent, depth of field is good, colour rendition is natural, there’s good sharpness and contrast. Adjusting zoom and refocus is easy and the process is rapid. The camera does well through a range of lighting conditions and manages to never overexpose or under expose in challenging scenes. At night there’s no blooming, no ghosting of the lens or dome bubble and the IR capability is top notch, with flare very well managed and great IR reach and coverage.

Job Alerts

Account Activation

Before you can login, you must active your account with the code sent to your email address.
If you did not receive this email, please check your junk/spam folder.
Click here to resend the activation email.
If you entered an incorrect email address, you will need to re-register with the correct email address.